This weblog was created to act as a platform for the voice of secular pro-democracy activists in and outside Iran who are struggling against the religious dictatorship of the Islamic clerics in Iran.
My favourite quote:
"Evil only prevails when the good stay silent"

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Footage of an Iranian girl who resists arrest by the morality police in Oroumiyeh, North West Iran. She was being harassed by the morality police for showing her ankles. At the end of the footage she is heard shouting 'You have destroyed our country':

As the Supreme Leader's trip to Qom is coming to an end, I think Borzou Dargahi's article in the LA Times sums up the trip best. As Borzou descibes, the trip's purpose was to warn the non-compliant and dissident Ayatollahs that if the boat sinks, they will all go down with it. At the end of the Supreme Leader's trip, a further damning disclosure of a poll taken shortly before the 2009 disputed elections has also surfaced, which goes to show the depth of discontent and dissent in Iran's holiest city and the very bedrock of the 1979 Islamic revolution .

The poll was conducted by Qom's Revolutionary Guards with the help of Information and Surveillance unit of Qom province's Ali Ibn Abi-Taleb's 17th Division. The poll sample is based on a 200,000 statistical population and includes a complete representation of Qom's four districts as well as Qom's seminary and three surrounding burghs, which the letter claims to have the necessary dispersion and deviation for a reliable valid poll.

Add to this the fear some people may have had when taking part in a poll conducted by the Information and Surveillance unit of the Revolutionary Guards, one can extrapolate the true extent of dissent across Iran's holiest city and then across the rest of Iran.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

The country is facing grave economic and social catastrophes but just like comical Ali in his final days, Iranian officials are living in a state of total denial. The Science Minister, Kamran Daneshjoo, was interviewed on state TV few days ago. He denied important issues like the brain drain facing the country and instead unveiled his plans for new Islamic universities. Daneshjoo claimed that after three decades since the Islamic revolution in 1979, Iran's schools and universities were still run based on Western models and were not Islamised enough. When the TV presenter asked Daneshjoo, what will his ideal Islamic universities be like? What do you think was on the top of his list? You probably guessed from the title of this post. To a bemused looking presenter, Daneshjoo replied 'Mixed results boards will be banned and will be segregated'.

Presumably a mixed results board means male and female students will huddle together in front of the results board and some un-Islamic activities will then pursue, leading to threats against the national security of the country. At a time when the rest of the world is pursuing to lead the science and technology race, the most important issue for Iran's Science Minister is the mixed results boards!

And where did Kamran Daneshjoo, who conducted the fraudulent 2009 elections study himself? Here in the good old UK, where there are mixed student resident halls, mixed lecture halls, mixed student bars as well as mixed results boards. Only Kamran Daneshjoo was deported from UK. We are not sure why? He claims its because he took part in an anti-Salman Rushdie demonstration.

On Daneshjoo's own university page, he states he is a graduate of Manchester Imperial Institute of Science and Technology. Does anyone know where that is?

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Combing through Iran news today, I came across an article in one of the pro-Ahmadinejad websites. The title was 'Israeli Women Sell Their Bodies: [Pictures Included]' and the first paragraph said:
'In a blatant act of decadence and social moral corruption, women are displayed for sale in shop windows throughout Israel's major chain stores'. The article quotes several Israeli papers to back up its claim for this depraved social perversion which is gripping Israel and ends with a paragraph which says:
'Each woman has a price tag, which also displays her age, weight, size and her country of birth. The pictures below show modern women slavery in Israel, a country which claims to have democracy!'

So the message to the people of Iran is clear, democracy will lead to women being displayed in shop windows as sex commodities, is this what you want?

As I scrolled down to see the images and decide whether democracy should be pursued or not, I noticed the women didn't look like they were trying to attract customers. The images didn't look they were trying to entice or provoke men in a sexual way, unless Ahmadinejad supporters find a picture of a battered woman with a black eye sexually enticing! In fact it looked more like a powerful protest against human trafficking and prostitution. The caption for the picture below published in the Iranians news website says 'Slave market in Israel'

And sure enough, the truth is nothing like what the pro-Ahmadinejad sites are claiming with their exact same texts. When did Ahmadinejad and his followers ever tell the truth? It was in fact a protest to highlight the problem of human trafficking for the sex industry and the protesters were calling for people who pay for sex to be prosecuted too.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Have you ever heard of the Mourning Mothers of Iran, whose children have been murdered for having taken part in peaceful protests? Do you know that on the same day that you were cheering for Ahmadinejad, four of the Mourning Mothers of Iran were arrested? Can you imagine what these families are going through right now? They have killed their children, now they are arresting the mothers and you are cheering for the chief murderer like ignorant illiterates. Are you not mothers yourself or will you not become mothers one day? Have you ever heard of Kahrizak? Can you even imagine what went on there?

Have you ever seen the footage of how Iranian students were dragged like meat by the security forces in Tehran university ? Have you ever watched how your Hezbollah brothers raid people's homes in Iran?
Did you never see how Ahmadinejad's security forces simply ran over the protesters with their vehicles on Ashura? While you were dancing away in your exotic nightclubs, did you never have time to watch how Ahmadinejad's special forces break into people's houses and club defenceless men to death on the roof?

Have you ever heard of Hamed Rouhinejad? Before you let your enthusiasm for Ahmadinejad take over your brains, did you think what his mother could be going through right now? Did you think that she may be watching you on Iranian state TV and how that would cause her further insult to injury?
Have you ever heard of Evin prison? Do you read books? Do you read the papers? Do you go on the web? Did you never watch any of the videos of Neda as she was murdered?

And you still want to cheer for the man whose administration authorised and carried out those crimes?

So you may say Ahmadinejad gave you money, but do you know the price you will eventually pay for his handouts? The price will be the lives of your sons and husbands and the freedoms you have now. The very freedoms that Iranian women have been denied. For if any of you went out to greet Ahmadinejad in Iran the way you were dressed, you would have been arrested and bussed away to a detention centre and humiliated. Is there no limit to your stupidity and ignorance?

I understand your Lebanese men in order to impress you will sit in the cafes and HIRE a bottle of Champagne to look good and impress you. If you are so easily impressed by false pretences then perhaps I am wasting my time here. In any case those of you who have been pictured screaming for your own version of Don Quixote hero, will go down in history as the quintessential symbols of nitwitted idiot women of Lebanon.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

- The 10 year prison sentence for Hamed Rouhinejad, the Iranian student who suffers from MS, has been extended by a further year. Ahmadinejad's sadistic torturers have sent Hamed to a remote prison and banned his family from visiting him despite the long journey they made to see their son. Hamed has been denied his medication. Hamed's father said "My son is dying, he is now 50% paralysed and is unable to perform his daily routines by himself. How is he a threat to national security?" Hamed's father has had three strokes since his son was arrested.

- Iranian imprisoned human rights lawyer, Mohammad Olyayi Fard, who is in prison for defending his client, is feared to have leukemia.

- Iranian imprisoned human rights lawyer, Nasrin Sotoodeh, who defended her colleague, Olyayi Fard amongst others, is still in prison without being charged and on 18th day of her hunger strike.

- Iranian IT genius, Hossein Ronaghi Maleki, sentenced to 15 years prison is also on hunger strike and his family are not allowed to visit him.

- Four Mourning Mothers, mothers of those martyred in the protests last year, have been arrested, charged with contacts with Zahra Rahnavard.

- Iranian teacher, Abdolreza Ghanbari is facing execution for having taken part in the Ashura protests.

- Families of political prisoners like Parvin Tajik, Elaheh Mojaradi, Akram Neghabi and her daughter have been arrested for no other reason than being related to the prisoners or talking to the media about the plight of their loved ones.

and the list goes on. It seems one solution that will make both Iranians and Lebanese happy is for Ahmadinejad to stay in Lebanon.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Hanna Makhmalbaf is the daughter of Mohsen Makhmalbaf, the famous Iranian film director and an ardent revolutionary in his youth. So much so that during the Shah's rule, by the time Mohsen Makhmalbaf was 15, he had formed his own Islamic militia group and by the age of 17 he was shot and arrested while trying to disarm a policeman.

Neither Mohsen Makhmalbaf nor his daughter Hanna now support what is going on in Iran. In fact they both now back the Green Movement and desire a democratic change in Iran like most Iranians do. Having had the experience of living in a religious state, Hanna hopes her experience will alert the people of Lebanon ahead of Ahmadinejad's imminent visit to Lebanon. Her address to the people of Lebanon comes after the Lebanese authorities decided to stop the showing of her award winning film, Green Days, ahead of Ahmadinejad's visit, during the Beirut International Film Festival, so as not to upset the Iranian dictator who has promised a half billion Dollar loan to Lebanon.

There never was an anti-filtering software called Haystack. It simply never existed, yet its advocate, Austin Heap, was sweeping awards and accolades one after another. There was no shortage of media attention for Austin Heap, it was the story of Emperor's Clothes all over again. So much so that Haystack even got exemption from US technology export ban to Iran.

There is no hard evidence that Hossein Derakhshan, a blogger with strong connections to the regime, who constantly justified Ahmadinejad's administration and labelled Iranian opposition figures as Western stooges, is even in prison, yet the plight of the 'Blogfather' is all over the Western media.
Five Western Human Rights organisations and advocators of free speech have called for Derakhshan's release, Article 19, CFJE, CPJ, Index on Censorship and PEN Canada.

The true hero of Iran's struggle against internet censorship, Hossein Ronaghi Maleki, however is in dire condition. He has just received a 15 year prison sentence and is in his sixth day of hunger strike in protest against this unjust sentence.

Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court, presided by judge Mirabbas, issued the verdict. A court secretary by the name of Sattari orally served Ronaghi-Maleki the verdict.The judiciary officials told Ronaghi's mother, Zoleikha Moussavi, she should be grateful because her son's sentence should have been execution but they reduced it to a prison sentence and if he had co-operated and appeared on a television confesion it would have been further reduced.

Yet there is nothing about Hossein Ronaghi Maleki in the Western media. To my knowledge no freedom of expression organisation or human rights organisation in the West is actively campaigning for Hossein Ronaghi Maleki's release. What do you have to do to get in the Western media and win awards? have a non-existent product or be a regime apologist?

Tuesday, October 05, 2010

I have written about Hamed Rouhinejad before, the Iranian student of philosophy who is sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and suffers from the debilitating MS disease.

Hamed's crippling MS has not made the Islamic Republic judiciary and prison authorities any more lenient or merciful. In fact they seem to enjoy maximising this poor young man's suffering. Iran's prison authorities and judiciary not only have denied him his medication, they transferred him to the remote prison in Zanjan too.

These sadistic bullies seem to enjoy watching a young man being tormented to a slow death. Hamed has now lost 50% of his visual and hearing senses and day by day more parts of his body is paralysed. To be a strong healthy man in Islamic Republic's prisons is hell, to endure these dungeons while incapacitated with a terrible disease like MS is beyond any imagination.

Despite the long journey from Tehran to Zanjan, Hamed's family have made every effort to visit him so that their son is not alone as he suffers this gruesome slow death. You would have thought even the cruelest, the most sadistic and heartless fiends would not prevent a young man in such conditions from having the one luxury of a family visit every now and then, yet after having made the long journey to see their son last week, Hamed's family were told they were not allowed to see him and his visiting privileges have been stopped until further notice. How utterly inhumane is that?

Those Iranian expats who attend the regime's dinners, should think about the Hameds in Iran before scuffing their iniquitous morsels.

Monday, October 04, 2010

I am standing before you in this court so that the Almighty will be a witness before you and I. A witness to what is happening today to our beloved Iran and to its brave sons and daughters. So that upon the judgement day when we are held accountable, those of us who stand proud and those of us who hold our heads down will remember that such is destiny. The final reward and punishment is only by God.

If justice was the benchmark, instead of me standing trial today, it should have been those who have disgraced Iran and Islam who should have been standing trial. The very people who want to plunder Iran's wealth and use Islam to cover up their foray and despotism.

About Me

Follow Me on Twitter @potkazar
--------------------------------------
Last time I was in Iran, was during the Islamic "cultural revolution". I hated what was taking place in front of my eyes.
Illiterate gangs of thugs attacking students and academics and telling them how a university must be run! Book stalls being attacked, with books torn up and burned.
I knew then that I had to do something to get rid of this scourge of clerics who had seized power in Iran.
My main objective in life is to help establish a secular democracy in Iran.
I believe the best way forward for Iran to be based on four pillars of Democracy, Secularism, Nationalism and Meritocracy.
Most countries that have adopted these principles have been prosperous, why shouldn't our people be one of them?